Two

    Two months. Nora had two months to write this essay. Of course, her being her, she had to start the day after it was assigned. She was an overachiever and her grades paid off because of it, but this assignment already had her stuck. Something she learned in her freshman year? Not much. She learned she was small enough to be a flyer, but not good enough to make varsity. What else? Not to mention relating it to her rather uneventful and hardly life changing senior year was going to be a whole challenge in and of itself. Sighing, she slammed her laptop shut. Maybe this could wait two months. She had never struggled with an assignment, but her freshman year was a blur. Her high school experience hadn't been like the movies where everything meant something and no moment was ever the same. High school had been uneventful at best.

    With perfect timing as always, her cell phone lit up with a call from Mason. Smiling, she pressed the phone to her ear, "Hey, baby, what's up?"

    "Okay, hear me out completely before you say no," he started, which she already knew was a bad sign, "We've got a total of five months before college and two months before high school is over. How would you feel about going to your first and knowing you, last, high school house party?"

    "I'd say I have work tomorrow."

    "At three! Plenty of time to nurse the hangover you're smart enough to not get," Mason reasoned and she had to admit he kind of had a point. With how stressed she was, the idea of winding down at a party with likely shitty beer sounded almost like fun. She never got to have an experience like that, but what was the point of starting now? This wasn't a cheesy teen movie, Nora wasn't a partier and she didn't have to be. They only spurred trouble, nothing else. "If you're gonna say something, it better be yes because I'm on my way to your house right now so get ready."

    "You're crazy," Nora laughed into the phone, feeling reckless for the first time in a while. Something in her knew this was a terrible idea, but she couldn't find herself saying no to Mason. Something about how excited he sounded made her feel like she would be kicking a puppy if she said no. "Fine, fine, but you totally owe me for this."

    "Nora? Saying yes to something? Oh my god, call the presses!" Mason cackled at his own joke, something he did often, before saying, "Talk to you in five minutes, change fast!"

    Giggling to herself, she said goodbye and hung up her phone, walking over to her closet. She sighed frustratedly as soon as she laid eyes on how pitiful it was; she had absolutely no suitable party clothes. Granted, she had never needed them before. A solution came to her as she marched into her sister's, who conveniently happened to be away in college and couldn't murder her for borrowing her clothes, room and into her closet. There was this pit in her stomach, but looking at these clothes, she knew what it meant. Nora didn't want to be herself tonight. So, she wasn't going to be.

    As she got into her boyfriend's car, he looked her up and over before announcing, "Ladies and gents it seems the body-snatchers have gotten to my girlfriend! You look really good, Nor, Eloise's clothes?"

    "Who else would own a black satin bra masquerading as a top?" Nora asked with a charming laugh as she pulled down the visor and applied lipstick in the mirror. "I don't know, I felt like going out on a limb tonight. Speaking of limbs, my mom will chop mine off if I'm not home by 12, got it?'

    "Okay, okay, that gives us..." gazing at the clock on the dashboard he hesitates, "roughly four and a half hours of fun! I'll take it!"

    "So, tell me, what made you want to go to a party? Out of the two of us, I always thought I was gonna end up being a bad influence."

    The boy shrugged as he kept his eyes on the road, "Yeah, because you're a reckless party animal, real believable. Everything just seems so sad with us and all of our friends. Feeling like there's an expiration date for us sucks. So, I wanted us to get one night, just one, where we can be kids. No college, no graduation, just kids. Kids who are going to get in a hell of a lot of trouble in four and a half hours. So, yes, I will be a bad influence for one night if it means us and all of our friends get to have fun together. Does that satisfy you, Ms. Watson?"

    Her heart warmed at his words. She had never taken into account how worried Mason must be about their upcoming graduation. The way he phrased it: an expiration date. Part of her hated how she thought of it the same way. Yet, oddly enough, some part of her was relieved. Something about Mason was too safe for the world outside of Ridgepoint, California. Nora, being a problem-solver, had gotten really, really good at ignoring that feeling. Something she was going to continue to do. He was right about the expiration date, Nora couldn't take Mason with her to New York and she never planned to in the first place. Hell, she never even planned on having a boyfriend in high school. When Mason asked her out junior year, she shocked herself by saying yes and now, here they were. She was surprised he even stuck around with the impending doom of senior year. It was a stresser on most relationships and she knew hers was no exception.

    "Thank you," she turned and smiled at him as she spoke, "Thank you, Mason."

    He smiled over at her for just a breath before his eyes focused on the road once again, grinning from ear to ear, he turned the music up far too loud and yelled, "Now let's go have some fun, baby!"

    As they entered the party, Nora felt extremely out of her scene. Some rap song she didn't know was playing too loudly and kids were dancing and drinking. Nora is pretty sure she just heard someone say the n-word who should definitely not be, but in small town California that was fairly expected. Everything in her was screaming to go home, but the joy on Mason's face as he reunited with his baseball and football buddies was too great to take away from him. Smiling, she watched as he did his thing. Within moments of standing by herself by the door, Kristen came up to her, shoving an unopened beer bottle in her hand.

    "Look who decided to make an appearance!" the girl exclaimed, using the bottle opener from her keys to open the drink for Nora, "You look hot! Now get drunk to match because Amarie is the designated driver and I need a drinking buddy."

    "You're crazy, Kris," Nora laughed but took a swig nonetheless. She did come here to do things she would never do. She wasn't so square she couldn't let herself have a little fun. It stung as it went down her throat, "God, how cheap was this shit? Get me something good!"

    "Get it yourself, my girl ain't gettin' roofied tonight! Also, the actual fun people are in the basement, see ya in five!"

    With that, Kristen disappeared towards an open door which she assumed led to the basement. Scoffing to herself, she placed the beer bottle on the end table next to her and headed to the kitchen to make herself a real drink.

    "I didn't think you were gonna be a vodka gal," a voice startled her, causing her to spill the drink she was pouring herself. She turned and Edison was there sitting on the counter with her legs crossed and a red solo cup in her hand, "But since it seems you are, do the peach vodka with a sprite on the rocks, trust me. You gonna stay up here with your kind of people or have you been selected to join the elite few who are here for actual fun instead of acting like animals?"

    "Didn't realize you were so above it all, Eddie," Nora teased, making herself the drink she suggested and taking a sip, "For your information, my only person in that crowd is my boyfriend who ditched me so I will be partaking in whatever basement activities are conspiring as long as it doesn't have to do with drugs. Why do you ask?"

    Edison shrugged, hopping off the counter with ease and stepping close to the girl for just a second as if testing her, before walking away with a glimmer and a message, "See ya down there."

    Nora contemplated for a moment. In four years of high school together, Edison had never spoken a single word to her. Now, at a random house party, two months before no one here ever has to see each other again, she speaks as though they're friends. Shaking her head out of confusion, she takes her drink and treads down to the basement. There, she finds Kristen, Amarie, Edison, and a few other kids from her school. Someone is playing some sort of indie R&B, much quieter than the pounding music upstairs which was a relief for her ears. She was no music snob, but the rap and hip hop upstairs was not her thing.

"Yay! You're here! We were just about to get started!" Kristen greeted; her and a few other people went back to sit in a circle. Nora joined next to her, noting how Amarie was sitting on the couch on her phone. Nora herself should probably be worried about having a designated driver since there was no way Mason wasn't drunk right now. Maybe she would be able to hitch a ride with Amarie.

"Started with what?"

Edison took a sip from her drink before explaining, "Uh, we're bored and wanna get drunk with purpose so... Never Have I Ever."

She scoffed, "Seriously? What are we? In some bad teen movie? Red solo cups and a cheap party game? I'm really gettin' the bang for my buck here, huh."

"Someone sounds nervous," Kristen laughed and slung her arm around her friend, "Just stop thinking and play the game, Nor. I'll start! Let's start off easy, never have I ever... gone surfing!" Only one person took a drink, which disappointed Kristen, "Seriously, guys? The beach is twenty minutes away!"

"Twenty minutes too far," Edison scoffed, "Never have I ever kissed someone I didn't like."

Kristen took a sip to which Amarie responded, "You better not be talking about me or you can walk home, Kris."

The girl laughed, standing briefly to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek, "Can't forget Stephen Newport from seventh grade, baby! Next!"

Some guy Nora wanted to remember the name of, but couldn't, was next in the circle. "Never have I ever gone to work or school hungover." A few people drank, Edison and Kristen included. "Nora, I don't wanna be mean, but have you done anything?"

Although he was probably right, she decided to play along with this character of her's she was performing as tonight, "Maybe you just haven't gotten wild enough yet." 

"All right, then I'm skipping to my turn. Never have I ever had sex somewhere I shouldn't have," Edison smirked at the girl, almost as if she were waiting for Nora to take a sip. Recalling the one time Mason and she had some fun in his car in the parking lot of her work, she took a sip. The satisfied look on Edison's face left an odd feeling in her chest.

Moving on, she said, "I've decided it's my turn. Never have I ever broken someone's heart."

Unsurprisingly, Edison drank. Except instead of a sip, she practically chugged what was left in the drink. As everyone looked at her with wild expressions, she shrugged and answered in a bored tone, "What can I say? I'm a ladykiller. Who's next?"

The other boy piped up, teasing the two girls by saying, "Never have I have kissed someone of the same sex."

"You're a cheat, you know that you're a goddamn cheat," Kristen shook her head while taking a large sip of her drink and then pointing to the girl on the couch, "that one was for you, babe."

"Thanks so much," Amarie attempted to say with a straight face, but ended up giggling at the other girl's antics. She reached over and tousled Kristen's ginger locks playfully before taking a sip of what Nora hoped was water.

"I'm bored," Edison interrupted, "Can we do something wild? I'm tired of sitting here drinking and talking, why don't we drink and do?"

"And what do you suggest?" the boy rolled his eyes at Edison as he leaned back and crossed his arms, "Anyone got a spare bottle?"

    Edison thought for a moment, "Give me two minutes."

    Sure enough, she went upstairs and returned shortly with an empty glass bottle. Shaking it victoriously, she smiled and said, "These are crawling all over the ground up there. Seems people care more about getting wasted than it tasting good on the way down. Who's up for some good old-fashioned spin the bottle?"

    "Are we in middle school?" Nora scoffed, "I'm not playing, I have a boyfriend."

    "Good for you," the other girl joked, but there was a daring look exchanged as her eyes met Nora's. Something that was asking Nora for something unknown. "Are you done being a buzzkill? It's not a personality trait."

Sighing, the girl looked around at all the eyes on her. Maybe she could be not just someone else, but someone else's for just a moment. Besides, Mason was upstairs getting wasted, so who was he to judge?

"Fine," she shrugged, grabbing the empty bottle and placing it in the middle of the circle. "I'll spin first."

Spinning the bottle, Nora felt like a complete and utter cliche. Part of her felt guilty thinking about her boyfriend upstairs, but she was planning on ignoring that part. This was all just a game. It was just her luck, the bottle halted. The open end facing towards none other than Edison herself.

"Lucky me," the other girl spoke gently, leaning forward.

However, just as their lips were about to meet, someone came running down the basement stairs. Weirdly enough it was Will. Rushedly, he looked straight at the blonde girl and said, "Nora, you have to come see this."